Innovation is the process of transforming knowledge into new products, processes and services which, in turn, generate new economic benefits and increase competitiveness. Innovation is an important driver of sustainable economic growth and employment. Ecorys plays a substantial role in research, consultancy and implementation of innovation policies. We can assist at all stages of the innovation policy, from problem definition to ex-post evaluation at the international, national and regional level.

Our strength is our ability to provide assistance in a fruitful integration of international (i.e. EU-wide) impulses into systemic national approaches during the elaboration and implementation of national innovation policies.

For illustration we supported the government of Bulgaria and Poland in the development and implementation of their national innovation policy. The support to the former consisted of the formulation of the National Innovation Strategy, the modernisation of the National Innovation System, the establishment of the Innovation Fund for innovative companies that commercialise R&D and the provision of advice to technical universities on their entrepreneurship programmes. The support to the latter included, among others, preparation of guidelines for adequate allocation and implementation of the EU funds. Another example is provided by Serbia, where we assisted next to the formulation of the national innovation strategy also with drafting of corresponding innovation legislation.

However, true innovation 'hot spots' emerge regionally. Regions are the building blocs of national and European innovation capacity, because they offer proximity and can provide specialised assets that foster enterprise-level differentiation. It is for this reason that in the EU Cohesion Policy and funds regional innovation strategies play a very important role. Regional innovation fosters the competitiveness of regions and Europe in a fast globalising economy (Lisbon Strategy).

We facilitate regions in determining their focus on those features of the national innovation system, which enable evolution of their successful regional innovation systems. Our competitive strength is our ability to connect the innovation strategy to regional competitiveness  through our extensive experience and database of the research projects, such as  'A Study on the Factors of Regional Competitiveness' and  'The State of European Cities'.  For both studies DG Regional Policy was our contractor.

For more information, please contact:

Willem Kruidhof
T 0031(0) 10 453 85 58
E willem.kruidhof@ecorys.com

Julia Djarova
T 0031 (0)10 453 86 65
E julia.djarova@ecorys.com